Spring turkey hunters enjoying good success through two periods

Hunters registered 19,877 wild turkeys through the first two periods of the 2020 Wisconsin spring hunting season, a 14% increase from the same time last year, according to preliminary data from the Department of Natural Resources.

The harvest included 11,196 birds in period A (April 15-21) and 8,681 in period B (April 22-28).

Participants in this year's youth hunt, held April 11-12, also saw a substantial increase in harvest. Youth hunters registered 2,873 birds, up 47% from 1,953 in 2019.

Multiple factors, including a "healthy and robust" turkey population and improved weather and field conditions, are credited with the increased 2020 harvests, said Alaina Gerrits, DNR assistant upland wildlife ecologist.

"Last spring’s weather led to favorable production conditions, a milder winter without extended periods of below zero degree weather and long-standing crops throughout late fall and winter in the areas of the state with our highest turkey densities, indicate that our population was in good shape heading into the hunting season," Gerrits said.

The spring 2019 hunt was marked by extensive and persistent flooding in April and May, making access to traditional spring turkey hunting locations difficult, according to the DNR postseason report.

Conditions afield have been substantially better this year.

"Weather during the hunting season has been beautiful, something that likely influences hunter effort," Gerrits said.

Another factor unique to this season is the state's Safer-at-Home order, which might have also resulted in an increase in the amount of time hunters have spent pursuing turkeys.

The spring harvest has consistently been around 40,000 birds for the past several years.

The state record spring turkey harvest was set in 2008 with 52,880 birds registered. The turkey population has since stabilized at a lower number, according to most biologists.

The 2020 turkey registration information is preliminary and subject to change, according to the department.

The Wisconsin spring turkey hunting season consists of a two-day youth hunt followed by six, seven-day time periods in the regular hunt.

The first regular period started on April 15, the last ends on May 26.

The state is also split into seven management zones.

Following the successful reintroduction of wild turkeys to Wisconsin in the 1970s, the first spring hunting season was held in 1983.

Turkey hunting grew in popularity in subsequent years and is now the second-most popular hunting season in the state, behind deer hunting. About 215,000 turkey hunting authorizations have been issued in recent seasons.

A preliminary full-season 2020 spring turkey harvest report is expected in late May or early June.

Pinontek, a Racine County Circuit Court judge, is charged by the DNR with violations in each of the last two Wisconsin hunting seasons.

Most recently, he was cited for being a party to illegally shining deer and illegal baiting. According to DNR records, a warden received a tip that "cabin shooting," or illegal night-time shooting typically with the aid of a light, was occurring at Piontek's cabin in Ashland County.

At 7:30 p.m. Nov. 26 a warden positioned near the cabin saw a 6-point buck walk out of the woods and moments later heard a rifle shot come from inside the cabin. Legal hunting hours ended about 3 hours earlier that day.

The warden saw Piontek and 58-year-old John Tussler of Kenosha leave the cabin and search for the deer with a flashlight. When approached by the warden, Tussler admitted he had shot the deer from inside the cabin using Piontek's rifle.

The warden also documented 21 gallons of corn and other deer bait at the scene. Wisconsin regulations allow a maximum of 2 gallons.

Pinotek is charged with being a party to illegal shining of a deer, unauthorized use of illegal bait and party to hunting deer after hours.

In a separate case, Piontek is charged in a Nov. 2018 incident in which he allegedly shot a deer with a firearm and registered it as a bow kill. The deer was killed Nov. 5 during the state's bow season and taken Nov. 7 to a butcher shop. An employee of the shop noticed a small rifle wound on the deer's rib cage and called a DNR warden, according to the report.

The warden confirmed the firearm wound. The gun deer season did not open until Nov 17 that year.

Charges for both the 2018 and 2019 cases were filed April 27. Piontek is facing $1,000 to $2,000 in fines and up to six months in jail. If convicted he also stands to lose his hunting privileges for 3 years. A court date has been set for June 8 in Ashland County court.

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